Into the Darkest of Hearts
by J. Maria
Summary: When four Hogwarts students find themselves trapped in a Death Eater's dungeon they expect a quick death. None of them expected the true horrors that lurk in the heart of their captors. Dark!fic.
1. Prologue: The Ignored

Title: Into the Darkest of Hearts  
>Author: Jmaria<br>Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. owns her people, I just make up the circumstances.  
>Spoilers: Set post HBP, au!DH obviously (just because the movies are out, you can't make me believe its true)<br>Summary: When four Hogwarts students find themselves trapped in a Death Eaters dungeon they expect a quick death. None of them expected the true horrors that lurk in the heart of their captor.  
>AN: I played around with this idea before, with a different pairing focus for both of the main characters. It was only when I was running through the dialogue for that piece that this idea hit me.

**_Into the Darkest of Hearts_**

_Prologue: The Ignored_

The first disappearances weren't that extraordinary. It started slowly as news of Voldemort's takeover spread throughout the Wizarding world. One by one, the population of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry started dwindling. The once impenetrable fortress that had guarded the next generation of magical children had been fractured when Death Eaters had broken in to slay the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

Muggle-born students had been immediately taken to various safe houses, secreted away in the dead of the night by professors of similar background. Agitators such as the youngest Weasley siblings, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were the next to be whisked away to safety. No one stopped to consider the threat to those students who possessed both Muggle and Wizard blood in their veins. And if they just so happened to be students in Slytherin house? They were even more forgotten than any.

So no one noticed at all when the half-bloods in Slytherin disappeared. Not a single person at all.


	2. One: The Wasteland

Title: Into the Darkest of Hearts  
>Author: Jmaria<br>Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. owns her people, I just make up the circumstances.  
>Spoilers: Set post HBP, au!DH obviously (just because the movies are out, you can't make me believe its true)<br>Summary: When four Hogwarts students find themselves trapped in a Death Eater's dungeon they expect a quick death. None of them expected the true horrors that lurk in the heart of their captors.  
>AN: This is dark. Its a bit twisted. There's mentions of torture, death, dismembermant, rape, racism, incest, curses, a bit of non-consent/reluctance, murder and other such things involving people between the ages of 16-25. Its something a bit darker than I'd been leaning towards, but it will get lighter somewhere soon.

**_Into the Darkest of Hearts_**

_One: The Wasteland_

Water steadily dripped from the old pipes above their heads, their beat the only sound in the room save for the unsteady breathing of the dungeons occupants. The seventeen year old boy shrank back against the wall as a new leak sprung up as the rain outside pounded against the old stone walls. The only light in the dank quarters came from flashes of lightning through the slit windows that offered no means of escape for the captives. How many days had they been here now? Was it days or weeks? Months? Surely not years. People would have noticed if they'd been gone for years.

"Stop mutterin' to yerself, Longbottom," the gruff voice of his companion spat out, drawing Neville's head up to seek the older man out in the darkness.

When Death Eaters had caught up with him at his Gran's house, Neville had expected to die at Bellatrix Lestrange's hands. Or at the very least to die trying to take her with him. He hadn't expected to be bound and thrown in a dungeon of a crumbling castle. The very last person he expected to find as his cellmate was none other than Marcus Flint. Flint had been one of the meanest-spirited Slytherins to ever prowl the halls of Hogwarts. He was also considered to be one of the biggest pure-blood elitists as well. To see the Quidditch star pinned down beneath the same bars as himself was a sight Neville had never thought possible.

"We'll never get out of here alive, so stop fussin' over the time, mate," Flint said tiredly as he turned his face away, the burst of lightning washing over his colorful face. He'd been slammed against the walls repeatedly during his last attempt to escape their captors, and the bruises were still livid greens and purples.

"Can't give up, Flint," Neville croaked out. "Someone'll notice soon -"

"No one gives a rat's arse 'bout us, Longbottom," Flint cut him off. "The little Gryff who trailed behind the Golden Trio and the Troll? Who'd actually come after us?"

Neville felt his shoulders drop as he tried to think of a response to that when a woman's scream rent the air, drawing both heads up sharply. Neville pushed himself up as Marcus struggled to sit up straight on the cot in his cell. The screams seemed to strengthen and Neville winced in sympathy for the poor woman they were torturing.

"That sick bitch," Marcus spat, fisting the thin mattress beneath him. "Knew it wouldn't be long before she got some poor female in her grasp."

"She sounds strong," Neville winced as another scream ricocheted off the stone walls. "Lefu won't break her."

"That bitch won't stop until the girl bleeds, Longbottom," Marcus's eyes caught his. "She'd be better off dead."

The screams seemed to go on forever, never once faltering or fading in their intensity. What felt like hours later, the heavy wood doors of the dungeon creaked open. Neville felt tendrils of magic slither around him and yank tight, binding him in place. Marcus stiffened in his own cell as the magic bound him as well. The woman's scream sounded closer as a pair of feet shuffled down the stairs. One struggled against the jailer, who muttered low curses at the new prisoner.

"No, I'll not leave her!" a lilting voice cried out.

"No," Neville closed his eyes in denial as he recognized the voice.

"That bitch," Marcus cursed as Derrial Lefu, one of their Death Eater captors rounded the corner with a petite blonde girl.

Lefu sneered at them as he snagged her tangled hair in his bloodied hands. The only son of their captor and head torturer Evangelina Lefu, Derrial was just as sadistic as his mother. He was several years Marcus's senior but had never attended Hogwarts. He dragged behind him a girl of sixteen in a torn jumper and jeans, her dirty blonde hair wrapped tightly in his first even as she fought him trying to desperately get back to the screaming woman.

"Let me go, you Nargle infested inbred!" Luna Lovegood kneed Lefu painfully, which had the handsome wizard snarling in anger.

His free hand wrapped tightly around her throat as he shoved her roughly against the bars of Neville's cage. Both prisoners fought harder against their magical bindings, fearing what Lefu would do to the fragile Ravenclaw. He sneered down into her reddening face.

"If Mumsy didn't have plans for you, you foul little wretch, I'd make you suffer for that," Lefu hissed darkly at her.

The bars of Marcus's cage quickly parted and Lefu shoved Luna by her throat at Marcus. Coughing, her hands feebly grasped onto his immovable shoulders. Neville frowned at Lefu's cackling and retreating form, the screams from above growing louder again.

"In the meantime, do enjoy your brief entertainment, boys," Lefu called cheerfully as the bars of Marcus and Luna's cage closed seamlessly.

Luna choked back a sob as the bindings on Marcus and Neville dissipated. Neville lurched to the connecting bars as Marcus gently cocooned the younger witch in his arms. Neville almost reared back at the gentleness in the Slytherin, but tried to hear what he was saying to Luna.

"How long have they had you?" Marcus asked.

"Only just found us today, her spells were keeping them distracted. But she's been here for as long as they've had you," Luna said roughly. "Six months she's been here, and never once did they catch her. Its all my fault. She hid me when the first hunters sought us. She hid me for a month."

Neville's head jerked back in shock. Who was this witch who was being tortured for protecting Marcus and Luna? And how did they both know who she was, while Neville was in the dark about her identity?

"You two weren't alone in the woods, were you?" Marcus demanded.

"Had to be. Zabini, he was injured getting Bell out of that trap -"

"Bell -" Marcus sucked in a pained breath. "Zabini should have known better than to let her get close. I told that little git to hie off to Sicily months ago."

"Hard-headed git," Luna choked back a cry as the screams peaked again. "She's been alone since they caught you, Marcus. Trying to scramble in to get you both free."

"Bloody hell," Marcus snapped. "I'll murder Lefu if he fucking touches her -"

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Neville demanded. "Who is that girl up there?"

Luna bit her lip as Marcus seemed to suddenly remember Neville was there in the cage next to them. Tears welled in Luna's eyes, her shoulders shaking as she spoke.

"Millicent's up there. They're going to kill her because she's been trying to save you both from being killed."

_"Bulstrode_?"

"Don't you say her name like that, Longbottom," Marcus snarled. "Don't you take that tone with my cousin's name."


	3. Two: The Sacrifice

Title: Into the Darkest of Hearts  
>Author: Jmaria<br>Rating: FR-18  
>Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. owns her people, I just make up the circumstances.<br>Spoilers: Set post HBP, au!DH obviously (just because the movies are out, you can't make me believe it's true)  
>Summary: When four Hogwarts students find themselves trapped in a Death Eater's dungeon they expect a quick death. None of them expected the true horrors that lurk in the heart of their captors.<br>A/N:

_**Into the Darkest of Hearts**_  
><em>Two: The Sacrifice<em>

Millicent's body shook on the rack as the whip slashed against her skin. Blood seeped from the wounds that had been kept from healing naturally by the magic spell the Lefu bitch had cast upon her. A sharpened fingernail dragged through the blood welling from the most recent lashings. Millicent ground her teeth together at the painful stab.

"Tsk, tsk, little half-breed, I can taste the filthy mudblood in you," Madame Lefu spat Millicent's blood back at her, the nasty mix slowly dripping down her chest.

"Let me guess, it tastes like chicken?" Millicent sneered, pretending as if this wasn't the most pain she'd ever been in.

"Brave words. Surely, you must have gotten them from your pathetic Momma? I did enjoy Emilia's screams. But I must say, yours are much more satisfying," Madame Lefu traced her bloodied finger down Millicent's cheek. When she tried to jerk her head away, Lefu dug her nails into Millicent's cheek and chin, keeping her head facing the mad woman. "Now, we wouldn't want our actions to reflect badly on your little friends in the pens, would we? Such a shame it would be to sully ourselves with the blood of those most pure."

"You're just scared of Marcus," Millicent spat, jerking her chin free. Four new bloody welts appeared across her chin and cheeks, and she didn't even wince. "And Luna's a spitfire, if Derrial's dangly bits and improved walk prove anything."

"And wittle Longbottom? Is he such a threat?"

Millicent only glared at the bitch. She wasn't going to give in so easily. Not to the woman who had tortured her mother to death in this very home - in her family's ancestral home. This bitch had stolen everything from her. Her father's sanity, her mother's life, her home. Lefu had imprisoned Millicent's only reliable relation, the girl Millicent had sworn to her best mate that she'd protect, and the boy she'd secretly watched with fascination for the last two years.

"Ah, no stunning words of praise for the inept son of such great heroes. That's very telling," Lefu snickered.

"He'll gut you with a spoon if he gets the chance," Millicent narrowed her eyes. "Not that you have to worry about him."

"Oh, you're going to be the one to end me, hmm?" Lefu smirked, and Millicent felt her stomach drop. "I do think the two of you will be too occupied for that to come to pass."

Another round of screams jolted Neville out of his disjointed sleep. Luna pushed harder against her cage's bars, and Marcus paced like a trapped beast.

"They should have gotten their kicks by now and tossed her down with us," Neville murmured. "We weren't up there that long before they got bored with us."

"That's because she was doing forget-me spells on you and distraction spells," Luna whimpered, slamming her fist against the bars. "Damn bars!"

"It doesn't make any sense."

"She's getting louder," Marcus grunted. "Stubborn idiot."

"Take that back," Luna whirled on him.

"She's egging them on, Lovegood. Telling them how clever she was and how stupid they are," Marcus growled. "She's still buying us time! Even after what that bitch did to her mother, Millicent is _still_ protecting us from that!"

"I don't understand."

"Millicent's a half-blood," Luna glanced over at Neville. "Her mother was a Ravenclaw and rich. Her father needed the money to fix this place."

"Aunt Em loved him, and Millie. He knew what the plan was for the muggle-born and half-bloods. He had a plan of attack, but Lefu escaped whatever hellhole she was in and struck first," Marcus glanced over at the cell across the way.

Neville hadn't even noticed it until that very moment. An older wizard sat hunched over with his hands at his sides. His wrists were dark, and two pools of congealing liquid brushed his knuckles.

"They killed her in front of him, didn't they?" Neville stared at the lifeless body of Mr. Bulstrode.

"They raped her first," Marcus murmured.

"Oh, gods," Neville shut his eyes.

"He lost his damn mind, and Millie made sure he forgot it all. She snuck in here and did so many damn forgetfulness spells that he was a shell. And she did her forget-me spells on him so they wouldn't hurt him any more."

"So when you two were captured, she did them straight from the start," Luna said quietly.


	4. Three: The Consequence

Title: Into the Darkest of Hearts

Author: Jmaria

Rating: FR-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. owns her people, I just make up the :

Set post HBP, au!DH obviously (just because the movies are out, you can't make me believe it's true)

Summary: When four Hogwarts students find themselves trapped in a Death Eater's dungeon they expect a quick death. None of them expected the true horrors that lurk in the heart of their captors.

A/N: Adult themes ahead!

_**Into the Darkest of Hearts**_

_Three: The Consequence_

Another heavy slap jerked Millicent's head to the left. Her throat was raw from screaming, but her eyes were bone dry. No way in the seven hells would she cry in front of these degenerates. She'd let herself bleed dry first.

"Hmm, whatever shall we do to our little toys down in the chest, dearie?" Madame Lefu admired her handiwork and tipped her head in her son's direction.

"Bind the little bitch and breed a full blood on her."

"That would solve one problem."

"You think you have that much time?" Millicent laughed at him. "He needs a mother's love to get that useless prick of his up, don't he?"

Derrial's face went purple with outrage, but Lefu cackled. She let his wand do more damage to Millicent, his fists pounding against her flesh when that wasn't a visceral enough punishment for her words. Then she crooned to her little pit viper and gave him a incestuous and nauseating kiss.

"My boy's made after his own father's image, and he had no trouble in that department, I assure you," Lefu's eyes were heated as she dragged a finger down her son's chest. Millicent gagged at the sight. "But no, darling. I don't trust you in the cage with that little cunt."

"Spoil all my fun?" Derrial's pout was even more nauseating.

"Oh, never, dearest. But she's right, we haven't much time left in our little love nest," Lefu smirked. "And I've a better punishment for this little bitch."

"What?"

"She'll get to be with her precious little troupe. But not without a hex to keep them occupied."

Millicent stiffened as Lefu turned to her, wand outstretched.

* * *

><p>The last shriek of pain was cut off abruptly, and all three heads in the dungeon swiveled to face the stairwell. Luna's hands tightened around the cold bars, her fingers turned white with the pressure. Neville let his head dip down in defeat. Marcus's hand smashed against the heavy stone wall in frustration.<p>

Less than ten minutes later, they heard the door to the dungeon creak open. Marcus leapt forward, yanking Luna back and behind him in their cell. Her fists balled against his back, out of reflex or need to do some damage, he wasn't sure. The same spell of stillness snapped the three prisoners stiff as they heard Derrial's heavy steps on the stairs followed by an ominous thud. Moments later, they realized what it had been.

Derrial came to a dead stop in the doorway, his arm stretched back behind him. Millicent was dragged into view, Madame Lefu smiling cruelly down at her victim. She turned that venomous smile on the other prisoners while Derrial dealt with the keys.

"My, my, look at my handiwork. I did a marvelous job, didn't I, darling?" She nodded to Mr. Bulstrode's body.

"Yes, Mother."

"Now, how shall we play this?" she clapped her hands together and turned back to her live victims. "I do like the rooming situation as it is. Well, bind her hands to the bench in Longbottom's cell, Derry."

"Not the other's?"

"Merlin, no! He'll spoil the fun too quickly, won't he?"

"Hmm," Derrial shrugged, unlocking Neville's cell. Millicent finally reacted, her hands jerking out to grab onto her father's bars while she lashed out at Lefu with her feet. Derrial roared as his mother pranced away from the blow, his fist beating down into Millicent's face. "Stupid little cunt! Don't sully your betters."

Marcus's body shook with impotent rage, nearly throwing off the spell as Luna whimpered behind him. Neville couldn't believe the blows the man rained down on the girl who'd tried to save his life. Her body shook with pain and Neville wished the spell would just pop free for a second so he could snap up the blade on Lefu's belt and gut the both of them.

"Enough. Bind the silly bitch and end this, son!" Lefu commanded.

Derrial yanked Millicent's arms up and bound them with heavy iron shackles. Then the cruel bastard dragged her into Neville's cell by them. Her hip slammed into the door, catching her up for a moment. Soon she was out of the line of sight of her fellow prisoners. He spelled the chain into the stone of the bench and let her arms drop heavily to the ground. He muttered something too low for the others to hear and then slapped down heavily on her crotch. Millicent shuddered and slowly curled in on herself as he slammed the cell door shut again.

"Well, you've all been most entertaining, but I'm afraid I can't stay in this provinceal little haven any more. Enjoy your little time bomb," Lefu cackled as she followed her son up the steps again, the spell dropping from the prisoners the second the heavy door slammed shut.

Her body shook with the compulsion but she was too fucking exhausted to carry out the twisted command. She'd spent so long fighting against them that she had nothing left to fight on. She flinched when Longbottom, who'd been rising from the bench crashed back onto it, jarring her arms.

"Millie!" Luna cried out, crouching down on the dank cell floor, her slender arm snaking through the bars to reach out for her. But Derrial had placed her out of reach of the neighbors in the other cell. That way, any decision that had to be made about her would rest solely on Longbottom's shoulders. "Merlin, what did they do -"

"I'll slit him open with a dull knife," Marcus growled out, his eyes catching on his cousin's. "Did he -"

"Couldn't stop fondling his mother long enough to do it," Millicent rasped out around her bloodied lips. "Got Bell and Zabini out."

"Damn fool, should've gotten you out too."

"Couldn't. Luna was still missing."

"Help her up, Neville," Luna still had her hand out to Millicent, trying harder to reach the injured girl.

"No!" Millicent shrank from his touch.

Neville had risen from the bench by then, his hand hovering over her body. Marcus's jaw tightened as he shared a look with the younger man. Luna's hand stilled.

"Time bomb. What did she do to you, Millie?" Luna asked quietly over the growing silence.

"Would've been better in your cell," Millicent muttered against the stone floor. "Would've ended it quicker."

"Millicent - what did -"

"Longbottom's got to kill me."


	5. Four: The Prison

Title: Into the Darkest of Hearts  
>Author: Jmaria<br>Rating: FR-18  
>Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. owns her people, I just make up the<br>Spoilers: Set post HBP, au!DH obviously (just because the movies are out, you can't make me believe it's true)  
>Summary: When four Hogwarts students find themselves trapped in a Death Eater's dungeon they expect a quick death. None of them expected the true horrors that lurk in the heart of their captors.<br>A/N: It gets darker, you've been warned.

_**Into the Darkest of Hearts  
><strong>__Four: The Prison_

"Kill you - why would I kill you?" Neville asked, speaking in the long silence her words left.

"Mind you, the gates won't magically pop open when you do," Millicent rasped, her head resting lightly on her outstretched arms. "Doubt that'll happen even if I do give in to the compulsion."

"Millie, what -"

"I'm not doin' it so it doesn't matter," Millicent's eyes slanted to Marcus. "Tell him to kill me. There's a loose stone in the corner of the cell. I carved it loose when Da hid me down here when they first took over."

"Millicent, you dying is not a better alternative to whatever compulsion they put on you," Luna still kept her hand outstretched to Millicent, grasping for her.

"You'll be free soon enough. Blaise'll come screaming back for you," Millicent's words hitched. "Just kill me!"

"I'm not -"

"Mil," Marcus ground out. "What did that bitch command of you?"

"I'm not saying."

"Millicent, damn you, just tell us!"

Her body seized up, shaking uncontrollably. Neville dove to keep her head from slamming into the stone floor and her body stilled. Marcus swore colorfully and Luna's eyes got impossibly wider. Millicent gritted her teeth, her eyes shimmering with tears of pain and frustration as her body turned instinctually closer to him.

"They'll just get worse until I give in or you kill me," she couldn't meet his eyes, which had Neville looking at the other two prisoners.

"Then give in, because what kind of arse would I be if I killed the girl who's been saving my life since I was taken prisoner?"

"You don't know what that other shoe is, Longbottom," Millicent said thickly, her eyes closing in contentment as her exhaustion won out.

"You hold her until she wakes, Longbottom," Marcus spat out. "You hold her tight if she even starts to shiver."

"What's the compulsion then?" Neville demanded, but moved her so her head was resting on his thigh. He would not let his mind wander to anything perverse because this girl had saved his life. He owed her more than his base needs. His Gran would have his head if he did anything less than noble.

"It's Lefu. What do you think that bitch has planned for the girl who kept screwing with her?" Marcus bit out.

"Marcus would have ended it too quickly," Luna repeated Lefu's words. "Either by forcing Millicent to give in to the compulsion or by killing her outright. But Lefu wanted her to suffer. Merlin, I hope she dies a slow and extremely painful death."

"He's not killing her," Marcus' head snapped back to Neville, glaring him into submission. "You're not killing her."

"If it's what she wants, Marcus -" Luna said shakily. "We owe her that."

"She can get over it. I'll do the memory wipe myself. I'm not letting her die," Marcus growled out.

"Will one of you spell the damn compulsion out for me, because I can't see what she'd rather not do over dying," Neville yelled, his hand slipping to Millicent's shivering body.

"You."

"Huh?"

"It's a sexual compulsion spell, Neville," Luna's eyes caught his through the bars. "You'll have to have sex with her to break the compulsion."

* * *

><p>Blaise Zabini was pacing like a mad man. The owl was late. The post was late. Neither one of Millie's communiqués had reached him. Shit had hit the proverbial fan. Katie Bell was glaring at the window from the safe house they were both in.<p>

"We've got to go back and get them," Katie groused.

"You tell that to those damned bastards in there," Blaise snapped, glaring at her for a change. "The last I heard Lovegood still hadn't been found."

"If anyone could find her, Millie could."

"Or Lefu did."

"Don't even wish that on them."

"Do I look like I would wish that sadistic pair on either of them, least of all my best mate?" Blaise yelled. "I only left her side because _you_ were injured and Millicent was trying to save Longbottom and Flint."

"She -" Katie shook her head. "They've just got to be all right."

"We are doing everything that we can," an older, weary voice startled the two younger students. A scarred and injured Viktor Krum stood just inside the doorway, a heavily pregnant Nymphadora Tonks beside him. Krum had been Flint's contact and the first one to warn them that something had been off with the Bulstrodes.

"We sent a scout up to the area," Tonks shook her head. "We're just spread too thin -"

"Bullshit. Send me back, I'll go," Blaise snapped.

"You know too much now," Viktor stepped forward, his bulk clearly outstripping Blaise's lean form. "It is too dangerous for you to be let -"

"_You're _questioning my loyalty now? After everything Millicent and I have done?" Blaise stepped right up to the Bulgarian, his anger burning through the room.

"Blaise was working against the Death Eaters," Katie defended him. "He helped save me and he was searching for Luna -"

"To what end?" Viktor raised a heavy brow.

"You've got to be joking," Katie shook her head. "If we leave the girls there much longer, Merlin only knows what that witch will do to them."

"They don't care what that bitch does to some ex-Slytherins," Blaise sneered. "Memory-wipe the location from me if your hideout is so damned important. But I'm going back to get them."

"No, you're not, Mr. Zabini," Remus Lupin said, entering the room. "We're not sending children back out into the war."

"We haven't been children since the war began, old man," Blaise bit off.

* * *

><p>The Lefus were sick bastards. That thought pounded over and over again in his head as Millicent's body shook against his. She was better when he was touching her, so he'd reluctantly pulled her farther into his lap. The girl who'd watched her parents die hideously at their hands had to be raped by a compulsion spell that would kill her if it wasn't fulfilled.<p>

And he was the one who had to do the raping? He'd never done it. She'd probably never done it. Luna and Marcus fought constantly on what he should and shouldn't do. Rape or murder. Either one would rip his soul to shreds.

"Just press your hand against my mouth," Millicent's labored words had his head jerking down. Her dark eyes stared up unfocused at him. "It's better than rape."

"I wouldn't rape you," Neville shook his head.

"No, the spell would make me rape you," Millicent shivered, the movement unnoticed by Marcus and Luna who were still arguing. "I'm not a virgin. And the spell's taken care of everything else."

"I am," Neville blurted. "I've never - Merlin, I've only snogged a few times. And there's nothing to keep from getting pregnant."

"Then it's simple. Just put your hand over my mouth and don't let up," Millicent gritted her teeth.

"Don't you even think it, Longbottom."

"What if it's deeper than that, eh?" Millicent struggled to turn her head, her eyes locking on Marcus. "Kill him afterwards? Just let him end it, Marcus. Let me go."

"You are all the family I've got left," Marcus's voice was absolutely gutted, but his eyes were even more determined when they hit Neville's. "You will do this and we will live with the consequences."


End file.
